A view of downtown Los Angeles skyscrapers can be seen here. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to take action on an economic plan that promotes a friendlier business climate, a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, and enhanced education and training to better prepare workers for today’s high-tech job demands. FILE (Photo by Dakota Smith/Los Angeles Daily News)

The plan maps out a forward-looking strategy for the county with a friendlier business climate, a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship and enhanced education and training to better prepare workers for today’s high-tech job demands.

It incorporates feedback from a business climate survey, more than 500 local leaders and stakeholders and 26 public meetings that were held over a period of six months.

Over the course of the meetings, consensus developed around seven major goals:

As part of Tuesday’s motion, Hamai will create a policy committee to work with the county to spur more economic development in the region. Working with LAEDC CEO Bill Allen and other county representatives, she will report back to the board in 90 days with an analysis of the plan and a strategy for implementing it, tracking it and reporting on its progress.

“It is one of my top priorities as chair of the board to help provide for economic development so that in fact we do lift boats, as they say — everywhere,” Solis said.

The report looks to improve high school graduation rates by expanding adult English as a Second Language (ESL) programs and by exposing more minority students to computer science through internship and labor-management programs.

The report also advocates the integration of workplace learning into curriculums at community colleges, technical schools and four-year colleges.

“Part of what we can do through our own capacity here is work in partnership with independent groups, corporations such as the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. and also other entities that are out there doing the hard work of training our potential workforce to be prepared for the 21st Century jobs that we often hear about from employers,” Solis said.

Solis noted that employers often say they don’t have enough skilled people to fill important positions in such fields as biomedical, information technology and health care.

Supervisor Don Knabe urged the board at Tuesday’s meeting to work toward advancing business-friendly practices in L.A. County, including the establishment of legislative priorities to that end.

Stephen Cheung, president of the World Trade Center Los Angeles, noted that the Los Angeles Customs District reached $416 billion in two-way trade in 2014 and that more than 370,000 people are employed in the local trade sector.

But increased competition from other regions in the U.S. as well as other nations, he said, make it vital that L.A. County “take immediate action on the strategic plan” to remain competitive in today’s global market.

Cheung said stakeholders throughout L.A. County are unified in their support to increase global connectiveness as a way to create good jobs and ensure a vibrant economy.

Allen put it succinctly:

“The Strategic Plan serves as a blueprint to help our region navigate the unprecedented changes in our economy as the information age impacts the types of jobs and the job skills required,” he said. “Through collaborative implementation we have the opportunity to increase standards of living and increase opportunity for more widely shared prosperity.”

Kevin Smith handles business news and editing for the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 newspapers, websites and social media channels. He covers everything from employment, technology and housing to retail, corporate mergers and business-based apps. Kevin often writes stories that highlight the local impact of trends occurring nationwide. And the focus is always to shed light on why those issues matter to readers in Southern California.

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